CWC meeting today: Party to finalise strategy on women’s reservation and delimitation Bills

The CWC meeting will also discuss the Congress strategy as the special session approaches. 

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet Friday to formulate and navigate the party’s strategy on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and a delimitation Bill, which will likely be taken up in Parliament from April 16-18.

Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, CWC members, including Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and others will attend the CWC meeting, scheduled for 3 pm at the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan.

According to government sources, there will be multiple Bills to make the long-pending women’s reservation a reality by delinking it from the yet-to-be completed Census exercise and using the 2011 data instead.

‘Government’s only intent is to gather headlines’

Congress leaders said the CWC will discuss the political and constitutional implications of the proposed changes to the Women’s Reservation Bill, the proposed delimitation, and developments in West Asia.

“We have been consistent – that we support the legislation to give reservations to women in Parliament. But the way it is being done, based on the Census done in 2011, makes it seem like the government’s only intent is to gather headlines and manage the narrative,” said a CWC member.

“There is no sincerity and that is something we have to put before the people. We cannot make it seem like we are against the reservation, but we can’t let the government walk away. It is a tricky situation for the party and the Opposition. We can’t be seen opposing reservation for women,” the member added.

Another leader said CWC will also discuss the party’s strategy on subcategorisation within the reservation for women. “The party has made it clear that we support women from SC, ST and OBC communities getting reservations within the 33 per cent. But that has to be discussed at the CWC meeting – the form and shape of how we take this issue forward in public and with our allies will be discussed,” said another leader.

While Congress leaders have maintained that they support reservation for women, the party has made it clear that it will continue to oppose the timing of the Bills in the middle of state Assembly elections and without taking all Opposition parties into confidence.

Delimitation Bill

The Congress party’s top leadership has also raised concerns about the impact of the delimitation exercise on South Indian states, arguing that their representation in Parliament will decrease as the number of seats in both Houses increases.

In a statement on April 5, Congress’s communication in charge Jairam Ramesh argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that South Indian states “will not be hurt in any way” were “deceiving”

“If the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased by 50% and the number of seats of each state in the Lok Sabha is also increased by 50%. For example, the difference between UP’s and Kerala’s seats in Lok Sabha is now 60. Mr. Modi’s proposal will increase it to 90. Similarly the difference between UP and Tamil Nadu will increase from 41 to at least 61. Such examples can be multiplied,” said Ramesh.

Ramesh and the Congress’s argument has been that the government’s planned delimitation “will work more to the benefit of larger and populous states since their already large numbers will get further magnified”.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram also targeted the government, and said the proposal to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha “will widen the difference between the more populous states and the southern States that have stabilised their population”.

The CWC meeting will also discuss the Congress strategy as the special session approaches.

The Congress and its INDIA bloc allies are likely to meet in Delhi before the special Parliament session next week.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet Friday to formulate and navigate the party’s strategy on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and a delimitation Bill, which will likely be taken up in Parliament from April 16-18.

Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, CWC members, including Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and others will attend the CWC meeting, scheduled for 3 pm at the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan.

According to government sources, there will be multiple Bills to make the long-pending women’s reservation a reality by delinking it from the yet-to-be completed Census exercise and using the 2011 data instead.

‘Government’s only intent is to gather headlines’

Congress leaders said the CWC will discuss the political and constitutional implications of the proposed changes to the Women’s Reservation Bill, the proposed delimitation, and developments in West Asia.

“We have been consistent – that we support the legislation to give reservations to women in Parliament. But the way it is being done, based on the Census done in 2011, makes it seem like the government’s only intent is to gather headlines and manage the narrative,” said a CWC member.

“There is no sincerity and that is something we have to put before the people. We cannot make it seem like we are against the reservation, but we can’t let the government walk away. It is a tricky situation for the party and the Opposition. We can’t be seen opposing reservation for women,” the member added.

Another leader said CWC will also discuss the party’s strategy on subcategorisation within the reservation for women. “The party has made it clear that we support women from SC, ST and OBC communities getting reservations within the 33 per cent. But that has to be discussed at the CWC meeting – the form and shape of how we take this issue forward in public and with our allies will be discussed,” said another leader.

While Congress leaders have maintained that they support reservation for women, the party has made it clear that it will continue to oppose the timing of the Bills in the middle of state Assembly elections and without taking all Opposition parties into confidence.

Delimitation Bill

The Congress party’s top leadership has also raised concerns about the impact of the delimitation exercise on South Indian states, arguing that their representation in Parliament will decrease as the number of seats in both Houses increases.

In a statement on April 5, Congress’s communication in charge Jairam Ramesh argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that South Indian states “will not be hurt in any way” were “deceiving”

“If the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased by 50% and the number of seats of each state in the Lok Sabha is also increased by 50%. For example, the difference between UP’s and Kerala’s seats in Lok Sabha is now 60. Mr. Modi’s proposal will increase it to 90. Similarly the difference between UP and Tamil Nadu will increase from 41 to at least 61. Such examples can be multiplied,” said Ramesh.

Ramesh and the Congress’s argument has been that the government’s planned delimitation “will work more to the benefit of larger and populous states since their already large numbers will get further magnified”.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram also targeted the government, and said the proposal to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha “will widen the difference between the more populous states and the southern States that have stabilised their population”.

The CWC meeting will also discuss the Congress strategy as the special session approaches.

The Congress and its INDIA bloc allies are likely to meet in Delhi before the special Parliament session next week.